Russian Empire (Great Empires)
The Russian Empire (Russian: Российская империя) or just Russia (Russian: Россия), is the second largest country in the world after the Mongolian Empire, covering 22,402,200 square kilometres (8,649,538 square miles). It is situated in Northern Eurasia, and is one of the world's five most populous countries, with 360,720,000 people as of 2014. It borders the Mongolian Empire to the west and south, the Roman Empire to the southeast, the Empire of China to the south, Kingdom of Korea to the southeast, and share maritime borders with the Empire of Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the United States by the Bering Strait in the northeast. Russia is a constitutional parliamentary monarchy, comprising 15 republics and 83 federal subjects, with its capital in Moscow, Russia's largest city with over 26 million. Russia is very rich in energy resources, and is the largest producer of fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal) in the world, and holds the largest proven reserves of oil in the world. Russia is a major recognized global superpower, and the northenmost superpower in the world. It is also a major economic power, and is the 12th largest national economy in the world with an nominal GDP of $4.75 trillion. Russia is currently one of the world's fastest-growing major economies. Russia's capital, Moscow, is currently undergoing an major construction boom with the under development Moscow International Business Centre (Moscow-City) (MIBC). MIBC has three completed supertall skyscrapers that are among the world's tallest buildings; Russia North Tower (648 metres), Russia South Tower (612 metres) and the Federation Tower (509 metres). Most of the tallest buildings in Europe are situated in Moscow. Even Russia's two other largest cities, Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg are undergoing major construction booms, with the 463-metre Lakhta Center and the 403-metre Okhta Center in Gazprom City, Saint Petersburg currently under construction, and the 380-metre Ural Tower in Yekaterinburg-City, Yekaterinburg, which is under development. Russia's military, the Imperial Russian Armed Forces, is the third largest and the second most powerful military force in the world. The Imperial Russian Army (IRA) is one of the largest and oldest standing armies in the world, first formed in the 18th century. Its modern tank force is by far the largest in the world, with over 50,000 tanks of various types. The IRA have currently 7,500,000 active troops, ranking as the largest in the world. The Imperial Russian Air Force is the largest and most modern air force in the world, with more than 10,000 aircraft of various types. The Imperial Russian Navy is the third largest navy in the world, with more than 200 nuclear-powered intercontinential ballistic missile submarines. The key warships in the navy are the missile-armed ''Kirov''-class guided-missile battlecruisers, and the 100,000 tonnes ''Shtorm''-class and the 90,000 tonnes ''Ulyanovsk''-class supercarriers. Russia is a recognized nuclear weapons state, and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction in the world, with more than 52,500 nuclear warheads. Russia has the world's third largest military budget, at $550 billion. Only the Chinese and the U.S. military budgets are greater, which are at $1 trillion and $700 billion, respectively. Category:Nations (Great Empires)